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Appendix 5 -- Examples of the Involvement of Organizations That Advocate Tort Reform (no funding data included)

Americans for Job Security (no website)

AJS is a "stealth" issue-ad organization that exists to develop and run "issue ads" against Democratic candidates. See the information on this organization at Campaign Finance Institute. [146]

 

The American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) and The American Tort Reform Foundation

Website: http://www.atra.org/

ATRA coordinates approximately 40 state tort reform coalitions.

Tort reform product example: Publishes the weekly Legislative Watch and The Reformer, a monthly newsletter.

According to the Center for Justice and Democracy report "The CALA Files -- a Report on Tort Reform":

"The business-led effort to take away consumers' legal rights (called "tort reform" by its corporate proponents; "tort deform" by its pro-consumer opponents)* has had at its helm the American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) located in Washington, D.C. In turn, ATRA has contracted with APCO & Associates, one of the nation's leading "grassroots" lobbying/PR firms." [147]

ATRA publishes short, misleading accounts of so-called "Looney lawsuits." [148]

ATRA is also the American Tort Reform Foundation, which receives some of its funding from Scaife's Carthage Foundation. [149]

The American Tort Reform Foundation website is: http://www.atrafoundation.org/

 

Business Roundtable -- Civil Justice Reform

Website: http://www.brtable.org/issue.cfm/10

According to their website:

"Continue efforts for federal and state tort reform, including the judicial system. Work toward incremental reforms, including class action, punitive damage, and joint and several liability reform."

 

Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse (CALA)

A number of related state organizations, coordinated by ATRA.

California Website: http://www.cala.com/.

Example tort-reform products:

Lawsuit horror stories

According to the Center for Justice and Democracy report "The CALA Files ö a Report on Tort Reform": [150]

"They euphemistically call themselves any number of names, typically: Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse (CALA), Lawsuit Abuse Watch, Stop Lawsuit Abuse or People for a FAIR Legal System.

While CALA groups tell the media, as well as lawmakers, that they are sustained by small donations from ordinary citizens, the money trail from many of these groups leads directly to large corporate donors, including tobacco, insurance, oil and gas, chemical and pharmaceutical companies, medical associations, and auto manufacturers. They are also funded by ATRA, as well as professional associations, local businesses and industries that also wish to be shielded from consumer lawsuits.

The CALA blueprint was honed in South Texas in the early 1990s where the first group to carry the "lawsuit abuse" message ran doom and gloom television and radio ads warning that the legal system was out of control, affecting the economy and the pocketbooks of average people. Creating a model that was duplicated nationwide, the Texas CALA groups developed a statewide support network that included the Texas Chamber of Commerce, the right-wing Texas Public Policy Foundation, and numerous corporations wishing to shield themselves from consumer lawsuits."

 

Chamber Institute for Legal Reform (CILR)

US Chamber of Commerce.  

Website: http://www.litigationfairness.org/who.html

Example tort-reform products:

Stories of Outrageous Class Action Lawsuits [151]

Facts & Figures [152]

According to their website:

"Litigation Fairness Campaign goals:

Coalition for Affordable and Reliable Healthcare (CARH)

Website: http://www.carh.net/

According to their website:

"CARH is a coalition of healthcare providers, professionals, and other organizations that is dedicated to solving this problem by coordinating with the Bush Administration, Congress, and the media to educate the public and see national legislation enacted that would result in comprehensive medical liability reform."

Common Good - Reforming America's Lawsuit Culture

Website: http://cgood.org/

According to their website:

"Fear of litigation has undermined our freedom to make sensible decisions. Doctors, teachers, ministers, even little league coaches, find their daily decisions hampered by legal fear. Our system of justice, long America's greatest pride, is now considered a tool for extortion, not balance."

Health Coalitionon Liability and Access (HCLA)

http://www.hcla.org/

 

According to their website:

"HCLA is a national advocacy coalition united in our strong belief that federal health liability laws are needed to bring greater fairness, timeliness and cost-effectiveness to our system of civil justice. We also believe legal reform is the best way to protect medical progress and to ensure that affordable health care is accessible to all Americans."

 

Junk Science

Website: http://www.junkscience.com/

Statement from their website:

"PERSONAL INJURY LAWYERS may use junk science to bamboozle juries into awarding huge verdicts. Large verdicts may then be used to extort even greater sums from deep-pocket businesses that may be fearful of future jury verdicts."

Critical description of this organization:

"This is the page of Steven J. Milloy and is sponsored by the swell-sounding Citizens for the Integrity of Science, a front organization located in Potomac, Maryland, whose WWW page directs the websurfer back to Mr. Milloy's Junk Science Page. This is not surprising since Mr. Milloy is the "Administrative Contact" of the front organization."

- The Skeptics Dictionary[153]

Steven J. Milloy is the founder and publisher of junkscience.com, an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, and a columnist for FoxNews.com. [154]

(More Steven Milloy interconnectedness information is available in a short research piece at Clear Project, at http://www.clearproject.org/reports_milloy.html.)

 

 

National Association of Manufacturers ö Fair Litigation Action Group (FLAG)

Website: http://www.nam.org/secondary.asp?TrackID=&CategoryID=1031&

 

According to their website:

"The Fair Litigation Action Group (FLAG) will work through the NAM Legal Policy Issues Committee to initiate a broad multi-year awareness campaign among NAM members and their employees, including more than 350 member associations located in all 50 states. The campaign will focus on the importance of fair liability laws and what legal reform measures are needed to achieve this goal. As a result of this heightened awareness among NAM members and their employees, members of Congress and other state and national leaders will better understand why the legal system needs to be reformed. FLAG will identify a priority list of fair litigation issues with the primary goal of ultimately working for the enactment of fair litigation laws."

Overlawyered.com -- Chronicling the high cost ofour legal system

A weblog published by Walter Olson.

Interconnectedness example from Mr. Olson's biography at the Cato Institute:

"A senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, the think tank in New York City, Mr. Olson is a frequent contributor to the magazine Reason, and his writing appears regularly in such publications as the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.  He has appeared numerous times before Congress, federal agencies and state lawmakers and has approximately 300 broadcast appearances under his belt, including "Crossfire", "MacNeil-Lehrer", "Oprah", "Donahue", and NPR.  His website Overlawyered.com, launched in 1999, has won wide acclaim for its mix of entertaining and serious commentary.Ê Before joining the Manhattan Institute in 1985 he spent five years with the American Enterprise Institute, and worked before that on Capitol Hill." [155]

Walter Olson's Web site has links from:

TownHall.com -- operated by Heritage Foundation

Federalist Society

Hudson Institute

Reason Magazine

Manhattan Institute, and their Center for Legal Policy

Civil Justice Association of California (ATRA)

Opinion Journal (Wall Street Journal)

Support John Stossel.org

Right Wing News

Chamber Institute for Legal Reform

National Association for Business Economics

Atlantic Legal Foundation

Illinois Civil Justice League (ATRA)

Common Good

New Yorkers for Civil Justice Reform

Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch

JunkScience.com

 

Power-of-Attorneys

Website: http://www.power-of-attorneys.com/

also lawyersstink.com

This is a website of lawyer-hatred. "Lawyers stink" shirts and caps are for sale. The site also offers a "Lawyer joke of the day" as well as other anti-lawyer vehicles.

Sickoflawsuits.org -- A CALA organization

Website: http://sickoflawsuits.org

Items from their website:

"Lawyers Exploiting the Mentally Ill"

Lawsuit Abuse Library

Their links include TownHall.com, which is run by the Heritage Foundation.

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Proceed to Appendix 6 -- Examples of State TortReform Organizations

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